GAZA CITY, Palestine: At least 15 people were killed on Tuesday when Israeli forces opened fire near a food distribution centre in central Gaza, according to the Gaza civil defence agency.
The Israeli military confirmed firing “warning shots” but disputed the reported casualty figures.
There have been a series of deadly incidents since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) first opened aid distribution points in the Palestinian territory on May 27, with Israel facing mounting international protests over humanitarian conditions.
Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that 12 people were killed when Israeli quadcopters opened fire on people waiting to enter a GHF distribution centre in central Gaza, “at 6 or 7 am” Tuesday.
Bassal also said that between 2:30 am and 5 am on Tuesday, three people were killed by Israeli fire and shelling north of Wadi Gaza as they waited to enter the same distribution centre.
“Several thousand civilians and hungry individuals had gathered in the hope of reaching the American aid centre near the Wadi Gaza bridge and the Netzarim corridor”, Bassal said.
The Netzarim corridor is a strip of land militarised by Israel that bisects Gaza from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean and cuts off the north from the rest of the territory.
The Israeli military acknowledged that it had fired “warning shots” during an incident near a food centre on Tuesday, but said the number of wounded did not match its data.
It said in a statement that “troops fired warning shots to distance suspects who were advancing in the area of Wadi Gaza and posed a threat to the troops”.
“The warning shots were fired hundreds of meters from the aid distribution site, prior to its opening hours and toward the suspects who posed a threat to the troops.”
The army did not mention quadcopters firing at a crowd.
Al-Awda hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp said it had received three bodies and 100 wounded from the incident near the Wadi Gaza bridge. – Agencies
